


Beyond The Walls

by justanotherdavina



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Historical, M/M, Open to Interpretation, Prince Byun Baekhyun, Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:08:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29130822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanotherdavina/pseuds/justanotherdavina
Summary: Baekhyun was a prince who wondered what was like outside the city walls.Chanyeol was a no one, be he was willing to show him.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Beyond The Walls

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!
> 
> Celebrating my last exams by posting this. Really, I don't know what this is supposed to be tbh, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway cnshx
> 
> I'm slowly finding the will to write again... I'm kinda grateful for these men because of this.
> 
> Alright, so... of course, little disclaimer: this is a work of fantasy and nothing of this really happened in real life. The characters in this work are not intended to represent the people I borrowed the names of in real life, nor I want to offend them.
> 
> And without further ado, I hope you'll like it~

“Your Highness, I am _begging_ you not to–” Kyungsoo urged, taking away his hands from Baekhyun’s now blond hair.

The prince looked at himself in the mirror, his own eyes returning the gaze right back at him. To say he was horrified would be an understatement.

“What did you do to my hair?” Baekhyun asked, his tone turning desperate, as his hands reached over his head to run his fingers through the over bleached locks. He tugged at them a bit. “What is this, Kyungsoo?”

“I don’t know, your Highness, you asked me to use the liquid inside the blue phial, and I did,”

Baekhyun gave one last tug at the roots, so harshly he hoped he could tear a chunk of it out of his head.

That was _monstrous_. He had a royal meeting to attend to, precisely, the one in which he would meet his betrothed, the very one he was going to get married to in less than a year. Not to mention that it was their first encounter after a very long time spent apart. It was set to be that afternoon, just outside the city walls. And they were also going to the countryside, so nothing too formal, something that would let Baekhyun help relaxing.

If not, well, for this.

“Oh gods, I am so– how can I even explain this to my mother? What about princess Yongsun?” Baekhyun slumped in the embellished and large chair in front of the mirror, and heaved out a heavy sigh, along with all of his hopes of being recognized some basic dignity in the eyes on his future wife.

“If I may,” Kyungsoo started tentatively, “it doesn’t look that bad.”

Baekhyun gazed at his companion through the thick material of the mirror, and narrowed his eyes.

“It’s not like you can say it looks bad on me, after you caused all of it,”

Kyungoo’s mouth pursed a bit. “It’s not like I’ve never been honest with you, either, your Highness,”

Baekhyun scoffed, and took a final gaze at his reflection.

It was going so bad already.

“Very well,” he raised from the chair, “where are the clothes I should wear, then?”

Baekhyun heard a soft knock on the wooden doors of his chambers, and hummed to Kyungsoo to let anyone on the other side in.

He had only finished putting on the first part of his upper undergarment, when Baekhyun heard Sehun’s loud chuckle coming from the threshold of his chambers.

The guy was almost bending himself in a half, arms tight around his stomach and soft puffs of laughter mixed with rushed intakes of air coming out of him. They sounded like the only sounds he seemed able to make.

“Yes, when you are finished laughing at your prince, Sehun-ah,” Baekhyun muttered, verging on the edge of smashing the remaining content of that stupid blue vial on the precious marble floor. He couldn’t care less about the possible stains, either.

“I’m sorry,” Sehun said then, a lingering laughter on his lips, as he swiped his thumb over the corner of his eyes, a bit of smudged makeup coming off with the gesture. “It’s just that–” another noisy chuckle threatened to ebb on Sehun’s mouth again, but fortunately, he managed to keep it under control, “it’s just that I wasn’t expecting anything… like this,” he gestured towards Baekhyun’s hair, and finally took some more steps inside. “Is this how you are trying to seduce your wife?”

Baekhyun grimaced. “Stop that, you don’t even like women. What would you know about them being sensual?”

Kyungsoo stilled visibly near them at the words, Baekhyun holding Sehun’s gaze, as the corner of his mouth twitched in a smirk.

Sehun sat down on the freshly made bed, and Baekhyun almost scrunched his nose in disgust: that was his bed, the place where he slept, and gods only knew where Sehun had been with those dirty pants of his.

“Huh, do you?”

Baekhyun’s mouth parted, lips kissing the air as he gaped a couple of times in search for a witty reply to throw back at Sehun.

Embarrassingly enough, he had to admit to himself he had none.

“Why are you here, anyway?” He asked instead, hands coming to rest on his hips. “Oh, and I am not trying to seduce anyone, I was just washing my hair when K– _I_ made Kyungsoo use the wrong bottle,”

Sehun quirked an eyebrow, eyeing Baekhyun’s hair suspiciously. “Yeah, wrong seems like a fitting word,” he commented, blatantly.

Baekhyun flared his nostrils in annoyance, and closed his eyes briefly. “Answer me, Sehun-ah. Why are you here?” He inquired again.

“I am meeting Junmyeon hyung later,” he said, voice reduced to a whisper. So much that Baekhyun almost didn’t catch that.

“So what?” He asked, eyeing Kyungsoo at the other end of the chambers, now busy collecting dirty clothes from all around the place.

“Cover up for me?” Sehun said, naturally.

“You know I do it all the time, why wouldn’t I do it today?”

Sehun’s face turned apologetic, and Baekhyun knew he wasn’t going to like it. He had a feeling, deep in his chest, in his gut: that wasn’t simply going to be good.

“Because everyone will be out for your royal meeting with princess Yongsun, and I… well, I have almost the whole palace for me, apart from the guards,”

“No.”

Sehun’s eyes turned soft. “Please?” He tried, voice ever so small.

“No. There isn’t simpler answer, no.”

“ you don’t understand just how much it is important to me to do this, I… I want to make him see where I live, and being able to spend some with him, I–” he licked his lips, trying to find some better words, “oh come on, please, hyung, please,” he pleaded, eventually.

Even Kyungsoo, then, raised his head at the scene going on before his eyes.

Baekhyun was going to lose it at any giving time. Between the beginning of a difficult week and now, that his hair had been bleached to death, the last thing he needed was a desperate looking Sehun with puppy like eyes trying to get something out of it.

“Don’t _hyung_ me. You want to bring him here to show him around and what, fuck him in my bed?”

Baekhyun said jokingly, a smug smile playing on his lips, but then he saw Sehun’s face still and serious, and it disappeared from his face.

“No no no, and no. Are you seriously asking me permission to bring your… whatever, here, to have sex in my bed? Are you gone mad, perhaps?”

Sehun sighed. “Hyung, there are no other rooms I can provide for us to, well, you said it,”

“Fuck him in the stables or whatever, I don’t recall you having a moral compass over places you’d fuck someone. Just pick one and don’t bother me anymore with this.”

There was a small silence, heavy with Sehun’s eyes trying to catch Baekhyun’s and failing.

He was not falling for it. _He was not._

“Hyung, please,” Sehun asked again then, “please, just this time. You can always throw your covers away, ask Kyungsoo to put the shitty ones on, I just– I just want to show him how much I love him and care for his well being,”

Baekhyun could feel himself disgusted at the implications. Even more so at the idea of Sehun fucking someone in his bed, and not only that, but with Baekhyun’s permissions, too.

“You think this talk about feelings will move me?”

Sehun blinked. “Is it working?”

That was it. If Sehun ever stood a chance to get a yes out of Baekhyun, that only confirmed the complete stupidity of his cousin.

“You can have my old chambers,” Baekhyun conceded with a sigh, “but you need to help me picking clothes for today,”

Sehun almost let out a loud screech, immediately jumping to his feet.

“Thank you, hyung!” Sehun said, face splitting in a wide smile, and eyes turning into crescents. Those crescents Baekhyun used to love oh so much, before he got smacked in the face with the harsh truth.

“And sure, of course, I will help you,”

Baekhyun offered him a tight smile, heavy thoughts already clouding over his head and sitting on his chest and stomach unpleasantly.

“Good,” he said, “Kyungsoo has terrible tastes when it comes to clothes,”

The servant didn’t bat an eye. “At least I can wash my hair on my own.”

Sehun wheezed out a laugh, and Baekhyun could only let himself bathe in the light moment and warm feelings coming from spending time with the only people he cared about.

.

The sun was shining high in the afternoon, warm rays reaching to touch everyone’s skin, and Baekhyun was absolutely delighted.

He loved sunny weather, the gentle caress of the lukewarm wind, the smell of grass and flowers; the lovely chattering of people all around him, talking one over the other at the market loudly. Children running all around the place, not really caring if it was their prince the one they were bumping into.

“Do not listen to your mother,” princess Yongsun told him, siding him close enough for Baekhyun only to hear, “your hair is good.”

Baekhyun looked around briefly, noticing how some members of the court were peeking at them talking to each other.

He sighed, smiling at her. “Yes, well… it was my fault,” he admitted, mind racing back to Kyungsoo’s unapologetic expression and Sehun’s amused one.

He couldn’t help a smile on his lips, anyway.

“Sounds like a fun story,” she said, hands fidgeting with the petals of some flowers Baekhyun had gifted her earlier, “I would love to hear more of it,”

Her eyes were full of hope, hope and something Baekhyun couldn’t quite place within his mind. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips, as _no_ , he realized, he was not going to share the story behind his bleached hair with anyone beside his friends.

“Some other time, why not.” Baekhyun replied instead, and the conversation died down, as soon as they stepped outside the inner city gates.

The wide expanse of green fields was absolutely stunning. Baekhyun could see its confines, at the end of which he knew there were the outer city gates, the last ones before stepping a foot in the wild.

There was a table set in the middle of the large field already, various dishes placed on it and a fair share of servants all around the place, ready to take commands and serve them all.

Baekhyun caught Kyunsoo’s eyes on him and gave him a tight lipped smile, together with a gesture of recognition with his head; but the servant didn’t acknowledge him back in the slightest, turning his head towards Baekhyun’s mother to bow to her as well as the rest of the servants.

And it wasn’t going bad, necessarily, but he knew that it wasn’t even going for the best. Naively, Baekhyun had wished for his and the princess’ encounter to be… a bit warmer, maybe.

He wasn’t dumb, he was aware of the fact that they were little more than strangers, but he’d wished they could go off to a better start than the actual one.

It’d been two hours already, and they hadn’t exchanged more than a couple of times.

Baekhyun took his place at the long and large table, and tried his best to ignore the strange feeling now sitting in his guts as his thoughts went to Sehun and his lover. They were still in the palace, probably, and Baekhyun was glad that his mother hadn’t come up with any question yet, too caught up in conversations on various topics with princess Yongsun’s father.

He was jealous.

He was jealous of the way his mother seemed to be on good terms with everyone, both in the court and other countries; even the common folk loved their queen so much that they would throw themselves at her feet no matter what.

Baekhyun was jealous of Kyungoo, of the way he could maintain his expressions at bay and prevent his emotions to show up on his face, he was jealous of the fact that although he was living a simple life from the day he was born, he had never once complained about his food being too plain, his bed hard on his back, or his salary being too low. He was hardworking, and loyal, and a good friend to the prince.

And Baekhyun was jealous of his simplicity, of his straightforwardness, of the way he could feel free to speak his mind to the queen without fearing to have his head on a peak because Baekhyun would protect him, he was jealous of the way Kyungsoo seemed to be liked, even loved by everyone without even trying.

Baekhyun was jealous of Sehun. His third cousin, his friend, the one who would push Baekhyun to be himself, the one who helped him realize how wrong it was of him to pretend to live a life that was not his.  
He had arrived in Arlania during a rainy day, from the confining reign where Baekhyun’s aunt lived and since then, Sehun had always been there for him, since he was eight and Baekhyun was ten.

And now, Sehun was living his own life, with his lover. As he always had with his previous ones. This one, though, was special in Sehun’s eyes, and he had told Baekhyun as much during one of their nights outside the inner city walls.

_“He is special, hyung, I feel something… I feel in deep with him.”_

And Baekhyun be damned, he was _jealous._

He clenched his hand around the soft fabric of the white napkin unintentionally.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

Yongsun’s voice tore him from his thoughts, and Baekhyun blinked at her dumbly a couple of times.

“Huh?”

Yongsun eyed the plate in front of him. “You are not eating,” she considered, quietly.

Baekhyun gaped, finding himself without a proper answer.

“Um, no, just… just thinking, my apologies.” He said, smiling at her warmly.

The princess shook her head briefly, and went back to her dish, using the expensive looking chopsticks to pick at her food and bring it to her mouth gracefully.

Baekhyun forced himself to eat, and to suffer through boring conversations, to stand the king’s disgusting manners towards his mother and the way he treated the servants skimming around.

He started to feel his clothes clinging to his body at the beginning of the afternoon, when the sun almost got too hot for him to stand.

He cleared his throat, finding it too dry for his liking.

-

“You will be missed, my Prince,” princess Yongsun said, bowing her head to him.

Baekhyun reciprocated the gesture. “I hope to see you soon again, your Highness.”

A much more heated conversation went on between his mother and Yongsun’s father, and they watched from the threshold, as the royals climbed back in their carriage and the coachman spurred the horses to trot on the road out the citadel, onto the beaten paths back to their reign.

A strong hand came to rest on Baekhyun’s shoulder, and squeezed him there. “For our future, my precious son.” Queen Suji told him, voice low. “Come inside, the night’s falling.”

Baekhyun gave his mother a small nod, and waited for her to walk back inside.

The city walls didn’t seem too far anymore.

-

Baekhyun wanted to curse at himself until the end of the next thirty days.

He had underestimated the chilly temperature of the late afternoon, especially when the sun set behind the hills.

He had managed to walk outside the castle undisturbed, the thin fabric of a cloak on his shoulders, fastened on his chest. Even while strolling through the roads to his way out the inner city walls, no one really seemed to pay attention to him.

People were going back to their huts and little houses, tired after an entire day outside, and Baekhyun made sure not to be in anyone’s way while reaching the large door. It was open, as always, for foreigners to come in as they pleased.

On the other hand, Baekhyun had never had the same opportunity.

When his father was still alive, he used to tell him to never cross that border, for there were unexpected threats beyond the city walls. As he grew up, and his mother took his father’s place on the throne, things didn’t change.

No member of the royal family could trespass the city walls. Even Sehun had never been allowed such a thing.

With time passing, though, Baekhyun had started feeling the need to go. To see what was like outside there.

He pulled the hood down on his head to hide his whitish hair from anyone else, and stepped aside, when a carriage and some people passed through the door in a low rumbling of noises.

Baekhyun bowed his head in order to not be seen, and slid through the door with quick steps.

And that was it. It was done.

There was no one around him, just various paths snaking in all the directions, the feeble sunlight casting shadows onto the dusty ground underneath his feet.

A sense of euphoria washed over him.

He dared a look behind him, taking in the sight of the cold looking city walls, the way they were towering over him; the clamor coming from within the inner walls, and the keep, standing out in the citadel.

Ahead of him, paths. Only paths and undergrowth.

Baekhyun took an uncertain step forward, then another. And another one. And yet another one, until he wasn’t able to stop himself from taking the path to the right, the one who seemed to dip in the bushes and a welcoming, warm looking forest.

The golden rays of the setting sun were reflecting on the trees’ leaves, beaten and caressed by the wind at the same time.

The ground beneath his feet was… different. It was nothing like the corridors in the castle, or the solidness of the roads’ terrain all through the city: it was mushy, muddy, even slippery at times underneath Baekhyun’s footwear, and pleasantly dirty.

Baekhyun was getting dirty in mud, the rain from the previous days having soaked the pathways clearly.

Even the scents around him were different, hitting spots in his nose that had never been stimulated by so many odors. The bushes, the trees all around him, the strange looking ferns he had always had the pleasure of admiring only in books, and those little, amazingly looking red and yellow berries that seemed to pop everywhere, on every plant Baekhyun could lay his eyes on...

Everything smelled. And smelled different, and so, so good to Baekhyun, that he leaned down towards an especially pretty looking white flower to get a sniff of it.

He didn’t get much in return, if only a light urge to scratch the outsides of his nostrils right after.

Baekhyun walked some more, delving into the depths of the forest, and appreciating every little odor, the sound of chirping birds on the trees’ branches, and the way he could just feel alone, without actually being left alone. The silence that surrounded him was all but shallow; pregnant with life. A life Baekhyun had always been ignorant of in order to follow the rules.

And all his parents required was for him and the rest of the family to never, ever step a foot outside the city walls.

It was easy, following the rules. It might have been the easiest task anyone has ever asked of him, but as he grew into himself, into a young man of twenty-four years, he couldn’t just stop feeling the urge to see more, to explore more, to know more.

Being alone had never scared him, the thought of being alone somewhere in a forest, either.

But Baekhyun wasn’t expecting to be alone in the forest, until proven wrong.

Not so far from where he was standing after haltering in his walk, he caught a glimpse of a man, squatting down on his legs, with hands forearm deep in the water.

Were men even supposed to be there?

Baekhyun’s mind raced through too many thoughts all at once, so much that it felt impossible for him to move, when he noticed two daggers sitting next the man’s hip, a bow and some arrows scattered around him on the gravelly bank. He couldn’t see what the man was doing, but he knew he didn’t want to ask, nor to have a close up of what was going on.

Ever so slowly, then, the man turned his head to the side, eyes unfocused, before they took in Baekhyun's figure.

The man's eyes widened, as he reached for something at his feet.

The prince felt his heart starting to hammer in his chest at the sight of the man retracting his arms from the running water of the stream.

Baekhyun began to step backwards, eyes still ahead, fixed on him.

“Move, and this goes through your head.” The man said, drawing the bow.

The arrow was meant for him. It was aimed at him.

Baekhyun shuddered, cold shivers biting into his spine and eyes blown wide, as he continued trembling.

The man’s dark hair framed his round face, and he was much taller than Baekhyun. He had never seen a man like that.

“Who are you?” The man asked, gesturing towards Baekhyun with his head.

“I’m–”

“Mommy never taught you how to speak?” He spat, cutting him off.

Baekhyun swallowed around his dry throat. “My name is Baekhyun,” he said simply.

“I didn’t ask for your name, kid, I asked who you are,”

Kid.

It was such an inappropriate thing to call someone like him, a prince, kid.

“I am–”

“Gods, Chanyeol!”

Baekhyun’s head snapped to his right, along with the other man’s.

“Let the poor boy go,” a gentle looking woman said, and Baekhyun felt relief take over him, only to leave him full of questions, as to why people were in the forest just like that, for example. “Don’t you see you're scaring him?”

The woman placed a hand on the man’s bowed arm, and shook him gently.

“Who are you, boy?” She called after him, “what is your name?”

Baekhyun eyed the man—Chanyeol—on the woman’s side, when he let go of his bow and relaxed his arm enough for it to aim down.

“I am Baekhyun, my lady, that is my name of birth.”

Chanyeol scoffed out a snicker. “My lady,”

The woman scowled at him and batted a benevolent hand on Chanyeol’s chest. “Don’t listen to him. Come, Baekhyun, no one will have to say the forest folk isn’t welcoming of foreigners, or...” she looked him up and down, “a merchant’s son, yeah?”

Baekhyun knew he was looking dumb, and even dumber was of him to nod. “Yes, in fact, yes.” He replied.

Not only a merchant’s son, even a liar, now.

-

Baekhyun had never met poor people.

That is the truth, as plainly as he could muster it in his mind. He had never had to face the hardships of being the one to do all the work, nor had he never been worried about the food placed under his nose, once he was seated at the table for a meal.

Never had he seen what poor people truly ate.

He couldn’t really peek at the various parts of the food laying in the simple made and looking bowl, it was all… white, with something yellowish on it. And even though he was reluctant, he sneaked a glance at Chanyeol nonetheless, and saw him pushing that very food past his lips eagerly.

Hunger scratched the bottom of Baekhyun's stomach from the inside.

He fidgeted with the bowl’s edges, unsure. They hadn’t even given him something to eat with, in the gods’ name.

_You shall never eat something that does not come out from our kitchens. And even then, have a slave taste it for you._

Baekhyun chewed on his bottom lip, turning his gaze back on the food.

“You’re not going to eat?”

If Baekhyun had had problems understanding Chanyeol’s way of speaking before, with half his mouth full, it was even more of a challenge.

“Beg your pardon?” Baekhyun squeaked out, voice far too pitched.

That earned him an amused expression on the man’s face. “I said,” he approached Baekhyun with steady steps, “you’re not going to eat this?” Baekhyun retracted instinctively, when Chanyeol reached out to his bowl, still held tight.

And as he asked as much, Baekhyun watched—with much to his horror—as Chanyeol dipped his dirtied fingers in his food, scooping out a portion of it on his digits, and brought it to his mouth.

It must have been clear to Chanyeol that Baekhyun was outraged by the gesture, because as he finished licking his fingers clean, he smirked at him. “Princess here eats with cutlery?”

“Don’t you?” Baekhyun asked, dumbly.

Chanyeol shook his head. “You’re sitting on a log in the middle of the forest, having dinner with strangers. What did you expect?”

Dinner.

Dinner.

“Oh, holy gods,” Baekhyun stood abruptly, so much that the old woman—Areum, as she had told him earlier—near them startled.

Chanyeol was regarding him with a confused look, as much as her.

“I apologize,” he held out the bowl full of food, bowing, “I have to– I did not plan to stay out until this late, I appreciate everything you have done so far for me,” he paused, and swallowed, “please, take it.”

Chanyeol did as asked, and Baekhyun batted his hand over his cloak a couple of times to get rid of the dust and dried up mud all over it.

“Are you crazy?” Chanyeol asked, all of a sudden.

“W–What? No!” Baekhyun hurried to say, “but I am late to– to my family dinner, that is what I am,” he offered, trying to sound as calm as possible while lying.

“Nothing less, huh,” he commented briefly. “You live in the city?”

Baekhyun knew the exact moment he almost felt the hairs on his neck raise, and his cheeks turning pink from embarrassment.

“Uh, I– well, yes, I do, it’s just, uh, temporary, until–”

Chanyeol turned to Areum, as if Baekhyun had finished speaking. “I’m going to walk him back, are you good with this?”

Minso nodded her head gently, slowly reaching for Chanyeol’s hands to take the bowl for herself.

“I will be good here,” she said quietly, “I’ll be waiting for your return.”

Chanyeol nodded and leaned down to press a kiss to the woman’s cheek.

“Be assured, grandma.”

Then, he looked at Baekhyun, as if he hadn’t just interrupted his very awkward reply. Baekhyun was almost grateful for it.

“We should get going,” Chanyeol said, already starting to walk into the direction Baekhyun had come from a hour before, “it’s going to get dark real soon.”

“Really.” Baekhyun couldn’t help but correct him, and Chanyeol stopped in his track.

“Huh?”

Baekhyun turned pink on his cheeks once again. “Nothing, I apologize.” He said quickly.

That was the same man who had him at arrow point not so many hours ago, after all. He still thought that being walked back by him wasn’t a good idea.

“It’s not necessary,” he said then, serious, “for you to accompany me back in the city.”

Chanyeol’s snickering smile found his place back on his face, as he sighed.

“Oh, silly boy, you think I'm doing it for you?”

At that, Baekhyun’s mouth went agape, but he decided not to say anything in return.

“Come on.” Chanyeol spurred, and Baekhyun followed close behind.

Around them, evening had already started to settle, night was falling.

-

The walk back to the city was silent.

Chanyeol hadn’t spoken to him any further, and Baekhyun wasn’t actually complaining about it. He was rather happy that the man was keeping his mouth shut.

For some reason, Baekhyun knew there was not going to be good news when he was back at the castle. The thought of his worried mother invaded his mind, and his skin prickled at the mere imagination of it.

He was so lost in his own head, that he didn't see it coming, the root protruding from the ground.

“Fuck,” he muttered, watching his muddy hands, as Chanyeol turned around to see him, miserably trying to get back up on his feet.

“Are you alright?” He asked, laughing. He walked closer, reaching out to Baekhyun with a hand.

Baekhyun eyed him carefully. “You held me at arrow point just an hour ago, now you offer me your help?”

Chanyeol seemed taken aback by the remark, and raised his hands alongside his face. “Uh, well, alright,” he said, “help yourself, I guess,”

Baekhyun got back onto his feet, the newly made scratches stinging on his palms.

“We shall move on.” He said, and without waiting for the other to answer, he started padding his way back to the city. "Are you well?"

Baekhyun just nodded at the question.

He was positive the citadel was not very far from where they were; and it wasn’t like he’d walked that much before stumbling upon Chanyeol and Areum.

“Why does a free man like you needs to be back before the sun sets completely?” Chanyeol asked, all of a sudden.

“Because it’s not good for someone like me–”

“Someone like you?” Chanyeol parroted after him. He chuckled softly, “you must be very precious to your dear father.”

Baekhyun swallowed in his throat thickly, and felt immensely relieved when he caught sight of the outer city walls.

He’d never been gladder to be close to home as now.

“I am, in fact,” he replied.

“Um,” Chanyeol hummed, “seems like you’re here.”

Baekhyun looked up to the citadel, where the keep stood high, and smiled to himself unconsciously.

He had missed it.

“Pretty ugly, isn’t it?” Chanyeol commented, following Baekhyun’s gaze.

“Huh?” He asked, confusedly.

“The royal castle,” Chanyeol explained, “it looks pretty ugly to me. Just like your hair, what even happened to it? Are you a fairy?"

Baekhyun frowned.

How dare him judge his father’s father work and his hair like that. Him, of all people.

“Well, don’t look at it, then.” He said, bitterly. "And my hair... That is none of your business."

Chanyeol looked at him with round eyes and shrugged his shoulders a bit. “You have quite the temper, huh?" He said in a chuckle.

Baekhyun sighed. “Goodnight. Rest well.”

“Wait.”

Chanyeol reached out to him, clasping his hand around Baekhyun’s wrist. The contact was so sudden that he almost jumped out of his skin.

“W–What?” He said, looking down at Chanyeol’s hand on him. It was so… different. So much bigger than his, and it circled his arm perfectly, holding tight onto it.

“I wanted to apologize for earlier. I almost shot you.” He said quickly, “What were you even doing, mh? Don’t you know it’s dangerous to wander around in the forest?”

Baekhyun freed himself from Chanyeol’s grasp, and cleared his throat. “My– my family is strict, and they don’t want me to exit the outer city walls. I was just… looking around.”

Chanyeol’s eyes went rounder. “Oh,”

“Um… yes,” he said, awkwardly.

“Are you of age, though?” Chanyeol asked, after a beat of silence.

“What do you mean?”

It was late. He was running so late he would have his mother yelling at him for days, and questioning him about his whereabouts for months, maybe.

Chanyeol licked his lips. “After the age of nineteen, you can walk out the city however it pleases you,” he said, “it’s the law,”

Baekhyun blinked. “And how would you know that? You don’t even live in the city,”

“Just because I’m poor, it doesn’t mean I don’t know things,”

Baekhyun felt his chest tighten. “No, I mean– that is not what I meant,”

Chanyeol shrugged a shoulder. “I’m just saying no one can actually keep you inside, not even the queen herself. If you’re of age, you can cross the border whenever you want,”

Baekhyun considered it. How comes he knew nothing about this kind of law? How comes he and Sehun and every other member of the royal family were never to be out the city walls?

“I… didn’t know that,” Baekhyun said, mouth dry.

Chanyeol nodded. “Yes, I guessed as much.”

Baekhyun felt the city’s pull. He had to go. He had to go back.

Now.

“Thank you, for– for this, I mean,” he gestured between them.

Chanyeol scratched the back of his head, nodding. “No worries. Uh, put something on it, on your hands,”

And then, the loud sound of the bell echoed from the city all the way down through the streets, and reached them.

Baekhyun closed his eyes slowly. That was going to be the end of it.

“Listen, I have to go, I–”

Chanyeol stepped forward, crowding in Baekhyun's personal space. A hand came to cradle the prince's cheek, and Baekhyun felt the urge to pull away immediately, all his senses screaming at him to back away.

Chanyeol smirked, and leaned in, pressing a kiss on Baekhyun's cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” he said, taking a step back.

“Huh?” Baekhyun said, still breathless, the skin where Chanyeol touched burning.

A third and fourth chime reached them.

“If you want to look around out here, you’re not doing it on your own. Remember? Never wander in the forest alone, your Highness."

Baekhyun just had the time to gape at him for a couple of moments, before the man disappeared back in the forest.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you if you made it here. Please remember that English is not my first language, so if you find any mistake you think I should fix, please tell me!
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated~


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